When I Hear His Voice

I look to the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year as I have no other. This one for me is unique. This one is special because this is the year our one and only son, Austin, starts school. Further, it is not just any school. It is the school where I work. You may have read where I make reference to him and his antics from time to time. My little 4 yr old son is adopted. He’s half-Colombian and half-Mexican. We were blessed to be there in town the night he was born, which was about 8 PM. We had him in our arms by 12:30 PM the next day. However, that is merely the end of the process. Let me tell you what God taught me through the process of Austin coming into our lives.

We had been married for about 14 years. We had tried several means of having children, including adoption, but all seemed to fall through in one way or another. It was agony. Not only was it painful for myself, but as a husband, I felt double the pain as I watched my wife struggle to stay positive. There were many hours of prayer after one of the last failed attempts in particular. One night I couldn’t sleep so I went into my study at home and began a deep time of prayer. I pursued God asking what His will truly was for us. I thought maybe He was speaking to us through our circumstances and that perhaps we simply were not to have children. However, God was about to whisper something to me that galvanized my faith.

Now you must understand something about me. I am not one of these folks that go around all the time saying God said this or that to me. I completely believe God speaks to us. I also believe those are sacred and special moments. He doesn’t need me to trump up a bunch of “messages” from Him just to prove how holy I am or how powerful He is. I want to know when something is from Him or just my own stuff. Sometimes He speaks to us through situations and circumstances. Sometimes, like this one, it was directly through what seemed to be the physically audible voice of man. As I knelt there in the darkness, with my face buried in my office chair, now wet with my tears, I heard God tell me… ”Jerry, there is coming a time when NOT having a child will be as foreign to you as the possibility of having one once was.” As you can probably imagine the feeling of peace and joy I felt was overwhelming. This reassurance was all I needed to hear. God is FAITHFUL!

We had been working with a wonderful Christian adoption agency. It was unique because it was also a home for unwed mothers. These young ladies were first given spiritual counsel and the finest medical care possible during their pregnancies. The girls were counseled in each of two ways. They were given instruction and guidance on what to do if they kept the baby after the baby was born and what motherhood entailed. Additionally, they were counseled on the possibility of giving the child up for adoption and what that would be like emotionally and spiritually to go through. None of the young ladies were forced to choose one option over another.

Once the paperwork was in and you were approved, hopeful families submitted a scrapbook that told our story as individuals and then our lives together now as a married couple. They wanted to know everything from our favorite foods to our favorite hobbies. This scrapbook then went into a large library with all the other scrapbooks. The young lady would spend time in the library, carefully combing through the scrapbooks until she found just the right family she wanted her child to go to. We were told the wait was usually 2-3 years. Within just a couple of months of submitting our scrapbook, and just a few weeks from that precious moment of prayer in my study, we were contacted by the adoption agency and told one of the young ladies had selected us to be the family for her child! God is FAITHFUL!

The young lady called us at home. It was just a day or so before she was to find out the sex of the baby. We had a wonderful time of getting to know her over the next several weeks and months speaking or emailing her almost daily. Everything was going fine until, one day, we received a call from one of the social workers at the agency. She informed us that that young lady was getting an immense amount of pressure from her family to keep the child. Upon hearing that I, again, was seized with that same agony. To be so close again and yet so far away. We learned her family was bringing her home to a family reunion and wanted to speak further with her there. So for the next 30 days we waited in silence. All I had, really all I needed, was that proclamation God gave me that night in prayer. So, I swallowed hard, tried to be a source of strength, hope and encouragement for my wife and simply waited.

During this time I confess I, again, had sleepless nights. Again, I would go into my study to pray in the darkness. However there, in the darkness, God spoke to me one more time. I heard His voice just as clear as if a man was standing behind me speaking. What He said I shall never forget. He said, “Jerry, you WILL have this boy. And further, every time you hear his voice touch your ear, you are to be reminded of My faithfulness.” God is FAITHFUL! Finally, just a few days after God spoke to me, we received another call from the agency worker. The young lady was on her way back. She had made her mind up for good and it was to have her baby and give him to us!

Well, fast-forward to today. We have a healthy son who is truly all boy, all the time. Actually, he’s all afterburner and no rudder! Not only does he constantly chatter and talk, but God also saw fit to give my son a booming voice that carries and that I can hear if we were standing on a airport tarmac next to commercial jets loaded with passengers. God not only saw to it that our son would be a chatter-box, but with his volume level, I WILL always hear his voice and therefore I will always know… God is FAITHFUL! Now, not only will I hear his voice in our home, but it will boom and echo down the halls, cafeterias and playgrounds around our school. My friend let me tell you, I can’t wait for that to happen either! I will be reminded throughout my day, as I hope you are reminded through our story....when I hear his voice, I hear HIS voice!… God is FAITHFUL!